Hat wrote:
wilcoxon wrote:
<snip>Is Natural AR better than worn? Yes. Is it enough better for the difficulty in raising it? I'm not sure (if I have time, I'll do an analysis of the max natural vs worn AR you can get by T3 (worn will definitely be higher but I'm not sure how much yet)).
Steve, the questions you raise though only address part of the benefit. Natural AR does not impose a Bulk and therefore an Avoidance penalty as with worn armor. Only padded and leather (AR 1, Bulk 0) are bulk 0, and all worn armor has at least 1 encumbrance. No armor quality including Legendary will take bulk below 1. A Legendary Celerity rune will decrease the Bulk by 1, but nothing short of that. The Celerity spell doesn't affect armor. Only the talent Advanced Armor Training granted to Martial Archetypes and Squire (b) get it. Even that only decreases it by 1 and for heavier armor would require other means.
Natural armor cannot be removed or taken, does not require time to put on, is available when sleeping, etc. It is constant, always on protection regardless of circumstance.
These in fact to me are the larger benefits than whether certain spells, talents, tricks or maneuvers bypass it.
I agree if you are trying for only AR 4-6 range then NAR will have lower Avoidance penalties than worn AR. However, Natural AR (assuming you are trying to maximize it) also has Bulk (1 Bulk from Ss'ressen Scale Armor and -1 Avoidance (the equivalent of 1 Bulk) from Dragon Hide talent).
Only heavy worn armor can't be slept in (Campaigner talent).
I don't remember any instance in the campaign (in the mods I've played anyway) where people did not have access to their worn armor.
If some of these other aspects of natural armor came up in the campaign from time to time then I'd agree that it is a substantial benefit but, since I haven't seen them be relevant, I don't think they matter at all (for the living campaign anyway - home games may be different).